RLJ founder Robert Johnson gets an apology from a Florida hotel he accused of racial profiling

Robert Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television and Bethesda-based RLJ Cos., has received a public apology from a luxury Florida hotel after he claimed to have been racially profiled during check-in there late last month.…

Robert Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television and Bethesda-based RLJ Cos., has received a public apology from a luxury Florida hotel after he claimed to have been racially profiled during check-in there late last month.

Johnson, the world’s first black billionaire, told multiple outlets that he felt humiliated when the front desk employee at the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa in Manalapan, Florida, demanded on Aug. 24 that he remove his prescription sunglasses to prove his identity — despite having turned over a credit card, his Florida driver’s license and his passport.

“I think it’s a silly rule and I think it has overtones of racial profiling,” Johnson told WPBF, a West Palm Beach ABC affiliate, after the incident.

The incident, which ended with Johnson leaving the hotel after a talk with police, whom he requested be called, took a turn on Friday when Johnson was invited to lunch at the Eau Palm Beach, according to a joint statement issued by Johnson and the hotel.